Tropescilloscope: Character Development

A character changes over the course of a narrative. (read more at tvtropes.org)

More Tropes Annoying Younger Sibling Real Life Downer Ending Hooker with a Heart of Gold Intrepid Reporter Accidental Misnaming Cool Guns The Mole La Résistance Gratuitous English Bi the Way Heroic Sacrifice Epic Fail Wham Shot Nice Job Fixing It, Villain! Early-Bird Cameo Chase Scene Have a Gay Old Time Posthumous Character Biopic Bitch in Sheep's Clothing The Ghost Wicked Cultured All Just a Dream Karmic Death Adaptation Expansion Retcon Fate Worse than Death Roaring Rampage of Revenge Drugs Are Bad Non-Indicative Name Rich Bitch Did Not Get the Girl Darker and Edgier Meaningful Background Event Disney Villain Death Gone Horribly Right Screw the Money, I Have Rules! Badass Grandpa Drowning My Sorrows And I Must Scream Anachronism Stew Attempted Rape Woman Scorned Visual Pun Adorkable No Good Deed Goes Unpunished Funny Foreigner Scenery Gorn Ragtag Bunch of Misfits Auto Erotica Foreshadowing I Need a Freaking Drink Diabolus ex Machina Heel–Face Turn Comically Missing the Point Fun with Acronyms Twist Ending Bittersweet Ending Neck Snap Narrator The Hero Dies Badass in a Nice Suit More Dakka Pragmatic Adaptation And the Adventure Continues Plot Hole I'm a Humanitarian B-Movie Sadistic Choice Blackmail Not So Different All for Nothing Badass Normal Domestic Abuse Horror Comedy Celebrity Paradox Slap-Slap-Kiss Drives Like Crazy Rule of Cool Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil Disproportionate Retribution Dark Action Girl Mercy Kill Big Fancy House Reckless Gun Usage Hero Antagonist Humans Are Bastards Once More, with Clarity! Distracted by the Sexy The Smart Guy Closed Circle Asshole Victim Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday Together in Death Canon Foreigner Your Head A-Splode Drill Sergeant Nasty A Minor Kidroduction In Medias Res Blatant Lies Armor-Piercing Question Hypocritical Humor Contrived Coincidence Ghost Fiction Word of God Oh, Crap! Corrupt Corporate Executive Sports Stories Face–Heel Turn Call-Back Knight Templar Italian Films Real Life Writes the Plot Names to Run Away from Really Fast Ms. Fanservice Affably Evil Big Eater Establishing Character Moment Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold Sinister Minister Very Loosely Based on a True Story Evil Brit Hoist by His Own Petard Redshirt Army Bald of Evil Rousing Speech Big-Bad Ensemble May–December Romance Hollywood Darkness MacGuffin What the Hell, Hero? Never Found the Body Spanner in the Works I Did What I Had to Do Creator Cameo Mythology Gag A Date with Rosie Palms Early Installment Weirdness Humiliation Conga Red Shirt Curse Cut Short Creative Closing Credits From Nobody to Nightmare Leaning on the Fourth Wall Took a Level in Badass Black Comedy Rape Corpsing Cain and Abel Sci-Fi Horror Ship Tease Adaptational Heroism Up to Eleven Double Entendre Idiot Ball Evil Sounds Deep Crazy-Prepared The Brute Casting Gag BFG Rule of Funny Bunny-Ears Lawyer Evil Plan Blood Knight Grievous Bottley Harm Bar Brawl Eiffel Tower Effect Neck Lift Token Minority Race Against the Clock Animated Credits Opening Hollywood Law Sexy Discretion Shot Improbable Infant Survival aka: Infant Immortality Gilligan Cut I Have Your Wife Dirty Old Man Eagleland Adaptational Badass Earn Your Happy Ending Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right! Artistic License – Biology How We Got Here Mind Screw Eldritch Abomination Accidental Murder Faux Affably Evil Line-of-Sight Name Getting Crap Past the Radar Kill It with Fire Evil Is Petty Fainting Redemption Equals Death Black and Gray Morality Children Are Innocent Off with His Head! The '80s Make It Look Like an Accident The Big Guy Damsel in Distress Historical Hero Upgrade Pet the Dog Taking You with Me Tap on the Head Public Domain Feature Films Reasonable Authority Figure Happily Married Romantic False Lead Affectionate Parody "The Reason You Suck" Speech Precision F-Strike The Hero Mad Scientist The Lancer Rasputinian Death The Starscream Red Oni, Blue Oni Death of a Child Greater-Scope Villain Green-Eyed Monster Tempting Fate Video Credits Impaled with Extreme Prejudice Cat Scare The Voiceless Retirony Actor Allusion Australian Movies Never Trust a Trailer Martial Arts Movie Costume Porn This Is Gonna Suck The Ditz Cool Shades Dutch Angle Historical-Domain Character Meaningful Name Horror Films Parental Incest You Have Outlived Your Usefulness Age Lift Manly Tears Sealed Evil in a Can As You Know Demonic Possession Unresolved Sexual Tension No OSHA Compliance The Un-Reveal Continuity Nod Unreliable Narrator Screw the Rules, I Have Money! Defrosting Ice Queen Flipping the Bird Smug Snake Offscreen Teleportation Bare Your Midriff Artistic License – Law Abhorrent Admirer Pretty in Mink Easily Forgiven Camera Abuse Daddy's Girl Cold-Blooded Torture Ironic Echo Sacrificial Lion Crapsack World Adults Are Useless Chekhov's Skill Heel Realization The Power of Love Take a Third Option Depraved Bisexual Romantic Comedy Air-Vent Passageway Shoot the Shaggy Dog Fatal Family Photo Ungrateful Bastard Genre Throwback Sanity Slippage Anyone Can Die The Dog Bites Back Would Hurt a Child Pimped-Out Dress Obstructive Bureaucrat Meet Cute Bloodless Carnage Refuge in Audacity Index of Film Westerns Villain Protagonist Stealth Pun Dropped a Bridge on Him Creepy Child Pun aka: Incredibly Lame Pun Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass Camp Gay Punch-Clock Villain As Himself The '70s Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping Despair Event Horizon Reality Has No Subtitles Framing Device Break the Haughty Thriller Daylight Horror Fake Shemp Dying Moment of Awesome No Name Given Wounded Gazelle Gambit Bloody Hilarious Expy Only in It for the Money The Smurfette Principle Nice Job Breaking It, Hero! Black Best Friend The Mafia Famous Last Words Red Eyes, Take Warning Interrupted Suicide Cloudcuckoolander Captain Obvious Last-Name Basis There Is No Kill Like Overkill Boom, Headshot! Implacable Man Parental Neglect Maybe Ever After Never My Fault Nice Hat Overly Long Gag Blood from the Mouth Would Hit a Girl The Sociopath Stock Footage Parental Abandonment Only Known by Their Nickname Coming-of-Age Story Ascended Extra Villain Opening Scene Gender Flip Needs Wiki Magic Love Evil vs. Evil One-Word Title Half the Man He Used to Be The X of Y Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane Random Events Plot Insane Troll Logic Translation Convention Facial Horror No Celebrities Were Harmed Even Evil Has Loved Ones The Atoner Badass Bookworm Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique The Faceless Lock and Load Montage Dies Wide Open Heroes Want Redheads Historical In-Joke Action Prologue Why Did It Have to Be Snakes? Mistaken for Gay Dramatic Irony Beard of Evil Foil Honor Before Reason Let's Get Dangerous! Unusually Uninteresting Sight A God Am I Throwing Your Sword Always Works As Long as It Sounds Foreign She's Got Legs Those Two Bad Guys Groin Attack German Films Works Set in World War II A.I. Is a Crapshoot Friend to All Children Shell-Shocked Veteran Be Careful What You Wish For Colour-Coded for Your Convenience aka: Color Coded For Your Convenience What You Are in the Dark Monumental Damage Gainax Ending Freeze-Frame Bonus Suspiciously Similar Substitute Dumb Blonde Spell My Name with an "S" Catch-Phrase Belligerent Sexual Tension Double-Meaning Title Bad Boss Bad "Bad Acting" Vampire Fiction Jerk with a Heart of Gold An Arm and a Leg Pragmatic Villainy timeperiod Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy N-Word Privileges Bottomless Magazines Composite Character Leitmotif Laser-Guided Karma Loads and Loads of Characters Stuff Blowing Up Death Glare Arch-Enemy Death by Sex Wham Line Red Herring Evil Counterpart Self-Deprecation Ambiguous Ending You Killed My Father Dull Surprise Covers Always Lie Made of Iron Five-Man Band Ax-Crazy Protagonist Title The Cavalry Black Comedy Off-into-the-Distance Ending Reality Ensues Unwitting Instigator of Doom Stepford Smiler Bury Your Gays It's Personal Big Brother Instinct Police Brutality World of Ham Roger Ebert: Great Movies List Mood Whiplash And Starring Left the Background Music On Bavarian Fire Drill Everyone Has Standards British Films Superhero Missing Mom Cluster F-Bomb Cool Old Lady Card-Carrying Villain Evil Cannot Comprehend Good Properly Paranoid Victoria's Secret Compartment Motor Mouth Apocalypse How Bilingual Bonus Irony Vacation Films Shower Scene Killed Mid-Sentence Dwindling Party The Bully Take That! Hell Is That Noise The Stoic The Un-Favourite aka: The Un Favorite Arranged Marriage He Who Fights Monsters Reality Is Unrealistic Worthy Opponent No-Holds-Barred Beatdown The Place Amusing Injuries Slasher Smile Cowboy Cop Department of Redundancy Department Brick Joke Disguised in Drag Fourth Date Marriage Hate Sink Knife Nut Chekhov's Gun Adaptation Name Change Love Triangle Manic Pixie Dream Girl "Shaggy Dog" Story Smoking Is Cool Not Even Bothering with the Accent Hero of Another Story Rape as Drama Credits Gag Kids Are Cruel The Remake Handicapped Badass Car Fu Hong Kong Films Darkest Hour Outrun the Fireball Artistic License – Geography Plucky Comic Relief Science Fiction Films Wretched Hive Dissonant Serenity Frame-Up Super Strength Badass Boast Recycled IN SPACE! Character Development Didn't Think This Through Awesome, but Impractical Offscreen Moment of Awesome Deliberately Monochrome Anti-Hero Face Death with Dignity Faking the Dead Television Movie Index It's All About Me Suddenly SHOUTING! Deadpan Snarker Amoral Attorney Punctuated! For! Emphasis! Pay Evil unto Evil Poor Communication Kills I Just Shot Marvin in the Face Karma Houdini Jerkass Has a Point Lighter and Softer Cool Old Guy Villain Ball Papa Wolf Jerkass Hair-Trigger Temper Developing Doomed Characters Better to Die than Be Killed Mexican Standoff Film Noir Index Broken Bird Retired Badass The Chick Get Out! It Will Never Catch On You Have Got to Be Kidding Me! Disney Death Adaptation Distillation Manchild Genre Savvy Bond Villain Stupidity Madness Mantra Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer Agony of the Feet Adaptational Villainy Black Dude Dies First Bowdlerise Peek-a-Boo Corpse Kubrick Stare Re-Cut Man on Fire Antagonist Title Chewing the Scenery Scary Black Man Skewed Priorities The Load Psychopathic Manchild Insult Backfire In the Back One Steve Limit Calling the Old Man Out Due to the Dead Soft Glass Villain Song Bland-Name Product Fingore Too Dumb to Live Jerk Jock Soundtrack Dissonance My Greatest Failure Never Trust a Trailer aka: Trailers Always Lie Fanservice Babies Ever After Anti-Villain Broken Pedestal Ominous Latin Chanting Ugly Guy, Hot Wife Advertised Extra All Girls Want Bad Boys Actually Pretty Funny My God, What Have I Done? Fanservice Extra Stylistic Suck Big Damn Heroes Beware the Nice Ones Gold Digger From Bad to Worse Shirtless Scene Dogged Nice Guy Fatal Flaw Adult Fear Your Cheating Heart Intergenerational Friendship Dirty Coward Does This Remind You of Anything? Gory Discretion Shot Artistic License – Physics Action Survivor Grey and Gray Morality Shown Their Work Really Gets Around Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking Alas, Poor Villain Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome Large Ham Logo Joke Historical Villain Upgrade Silent Movie Authority Equals Asskicking Mama Bear Moment Killer The Ace Dark Is Not Evil Unspoken Plan Guarantee Not So Stoic Toplessness from the Back The Casanova Vomit Discretion Shot Lampshade Hanging Pyrrhic Victory For the Evulz Final Girl Aluminum Christmas Trees Anachronic Order Made of Explodium Dirty Cop Politically Incorrect Villain Heroic BSoD As the Good Book Says... Combat Pragmatist Tranquil Fury Mundane Made Awesome Malevolent Masked Men Pretty Little Headshots Not Quite Dead Paper-Thin Disguise Mr. Fanservice Manipulative Bastard Danny Peary Cult Movies List Immune to Bullets Determinator aka: The Determinator The '50s Japanese Films Deconstruction Cool Car Setting Update Breaking the Fourth Wall Animal Title Index Genre Shift Funny Background Event Villain with Good Publicity Stealth Hi/Bye Enemy Mine An Axe to Grind Shout-Out Those Wacky Nazis Badass Longcoat Evil-Detecting Dog Cassandra Truth Henpecked Husband Star-Crossed Lovers Dark and Troubled Past Animal Motifs Whole Plot Reference Eyepatch of Power The Oner Scare Chord Evil Laugh Chiaroscuro Bullying a Dragon Bait-and-Switch Failed a Spot Check Guile Hero The Bad Guy Wins An Aesop Curb-Stomp Battle Improbable Weapon User Brainless Beauty The Alleged Car Aside Glance Book-Ends Chuck Cunningham Syndrome The Dragon Parental Substitute Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds Small Name, Big Ego Sassy Black Woman Military and Warfare Films Love at First Sight Driven to Suicide Rule of Symbolism Toilet Humour aka: Toilet Humor French Films Vomit Indiscretion Shot Fiery Redhead Spiritual Successor Punny Name Big "NO!" Kick the Dog Mystery and Detective Films The Alcoholic Not What It Looks Like Beta Couple Men Are the Expendable Gender Girl-on-Girl Is Hot Mr. Exposition Not So Above It All Captain Ersatz Our Vampires Are Different Rewatch Bonus Canadian Movies Red Right Hand Hope Spot Based on a True Story Extremely Short Timespan Only Sane Man Important Haircut The Lost Lenore Dressing as the Enemy Time Skip Suspiciously Specific Denial Insistent Terminology Fire-Forged Friends Exact Words Scenery Porn Foregone Conclusion Ambiguous Disorder Married to the Job Author Avatar Every Car Is a Pinto Market-Based Title Screw This, I'm Outta Here! Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other Action Genre Only a Flesh Wound Laughing Mad Mooks Major Injury Underreaction The Musical Mighty Whitey Noodle Incident Well-Intentioned Extremist Riddle for the Ages The Stinger The Cameo Back from the Dead Decoy Protagonist After the End Serial Killer Revenge Vitriolic Best Buds Defiant to the End Taking the Bullet Slashed Throat Documentary Novelization For Want of a Nail Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism Say My Name Mugging the Monster Leave the Camera Running Almost Kiss My Beloved Smother Rule of Three Extreme Doormat The Chessmaster Epic Movie Pre-Mortem One-Liner Good Is Not Nice Spiteful Spit Crucified Hero Shot Music Stories Butt-Monkey Action Girl Anguished Declaration of Love Adapted Out Imagine Spot Spared by the Adaptation Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene Why Don't You Just Shoot Him? Arc Words Bound and Gagged Hypocrite In Name Only Morality Pet Dark Reprise Recap / RiffTrax aka: Riff Trax Movies Fantastic Racism Bolivian Army Ending Destination Defenestration Kick the Son of a Bitch Sequel Hook No Ending Author Appeal Expository Hairstyle Change Meaningful Echo folderlabel The Reveal Death by Adaptation "Well Done, Son!" Guy Product Placement Villainous Breakdown Tagline Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep" Even Evil Has Standards Storming the Castle Improbable Aiming Skills Room Full of Crazy Gorn Police are Useless Took a Level in Jerkass Break the Cutie Light Is Not Good No Antagonist Artistic License – Gun Safety Death by Irony Pre-Asskicking One-Liner Cat Fight Unusual Euphemism The Film of the Book Chekhov's Gunman Brother–Sister Incest Naked People Are Funny Dramedy Same Language Dub Silence Is Golden Hidden Depths Those Two Guys Older Than They Look Training Montage Guns Akimbo Eye Scream Sole Survivor Disappeared Dad 20 Minutes into the Future Russian Films Cruel and Unusual Death The '90s Ambiguously Gay It Can Think Artistic License – Military Truth in Television He Knows Too Much The Stoner Psychological Thriller One-Man Army Country Matters Improvised Weapon Playing Gertrude Heterosexual Life-Partners All There in the Manual Sir Swears-a-Lot Four-Temperament Ensemble Running Gag Male Gaze Shut Up, Hannibal! Informed Ability All Men Are Perverts Demoted to Extra The Great Depression Psycho for Hire Woman in White NO INDOOR VOICE Batman Gambit Fan Disservice Blonde, Brunette, Redhead The End... Or Is It? Big Applesauce Totally Radical Flashback Our Zombies Are Different Artistic License – History Nice Guy Dual Wielding Freudian Excuse The Vamp Deliberate Values Dissonance Broken Aesop She Cleans Up Nicely Stalker with a Crush Fantasy Films Adaptational Attractiveness Jump Scare Obviously Evil Kill 'em All Undying Loyalty Straight Gay Jitter Cam O.O.C. Is Serious Business Show Within a Show Ass Shove Wrong Genre Savvy Catapult Nightmare Nothing Is Scarier Brutal Honesty Betty and Veronica Eureka Moment Yandere Beauty Is Never Tarnished Body Horror Fat Bastard Loophole Abuse Big Bad Duumvirate Slasher Movie No-Sell Put on a Bus Big Bad Death Seeker Central Theme Deal with the Devil Match Cut Determinator Ripped from the Headlines Bring My Brown Pants Alliterative Name Evil Is Hammy Bond One-Liner Fish out of Water Dramatic Gun Cock What Happened to the Mouse? I Want My Beloved to Be Happy Alpha Bitch Male Frontal Nudity Femme Fatale The Quiet One Only One Name Does Not Like Shoes Award-Bait Song Rated M for Manly War Is Hell Exactly What It Says on the Tin Naïve Newcomer Call-Forward All There in the Script The '60s Conspicuous CG True Companions Becoming the Mask Instant Death Bullet You Have Failed Me Here We Go Again! Adaptation Dye-Job '80s Hair Berserk Button Homage Film Series Bloodier and Gorier Shipper on Deck Crazy Jealous Guy Trailers Always Spoil A Father to His Men "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue "Awesome McCool" Name Empathic Environment Deus ex Machina Overprotective Dad Film Noir Serious Business Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas Race Lift Sequel Escalation The Dreaded Zombie Stories Obfuscating Stupidity Not Using the "Z" Word Abusive Parents Christmas Movies Index Title Drop